Pregnant Women: Why You Should Worry about What You Breathe

New studies link air pollution with child behavior issues and premature births

If you’re pregnant, you have a lot on your
mind —
foods to avoid, weight gain and picking a pediatrician, for starters.
Now comes research that adds another worry: The very air you breathe may negatively
affect your child’s behavior, as well as up the risk of having a preemie.

A study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
finds kids whose
moms were exposed to
the air pollutant PAH
(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) during pregnancy
are more likely to have problems regulating their behavior and getting along
with others.

The researchers suggest prenatal exposure to PAH damages neural circuits
that direct emotional responses. As a result, children with poor self-regulation skills have
difficulty managing disruptive thoughts, emotions and impulses, the authors
note.

"This study indicates that
prenatal exposure to air pollution … may underlie the development of many
childhood psychopathologies that derive from deficits in self-regulation, such
as ADHD, OCD, substance use disorders, and eating disorders," said lead
investigator Amy Margolis, PhD, assistant professor of medical psychology in
the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and New York
State Psychiatric Institute.

You may be wondering how you can
avoid PAH. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to escape these pollutants completely.
They’re everywhere fuel is burned — car emissions, home heating systems, power
generation, tobacco smoke and even charred food. But you can reduce your
exposure in your home, according to the
Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, with these steps:

The consequences
of this association may be costing the United States
more than $4 billion a year, according to a new study from the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences.

That cost includes the child’s medical
costs, both immediate ones and the long-term costs of caring for disabilities
caused by preterm birth, according to Leonardo
Trasande, MD, lead researcher and an associate professor at NYU Langone Medical
Center. But the dollar figure does not include all potential costs, such
as effects on mothers' health. "So $4.3 billion is probably an
underestimate," Trasande told
HealthDay.

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Angela is a Pulitzer Prize-winning digital editor with more than 15 years of experience delivering news and information to audiences worldwide. Prior to joining SafeBee, she was the features editor for Boston.com at The Boston Globe, overseeing health, travel, entertainment, business and lifestyle coverage. Before moving to features, she was the news and homepage editor, covering stories such as the Boston Marathon bombing, Red Sox World Series victories, presidential elections, a papal inauguration, and more. Her favorite safety tip: Clean your phone! The average cell phone has 18 times more germs than the toilet handle in a men’s restroom.